“Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, wins you 10 games a season on his own. If I was Allegri, I’d have trouble sleeping.”

Gattuso himself was one of numerous older players to leave when their contracts expired at the end of June.

“The club wanted to keep me, but Allegri didn’t want me anymore.

“When someone like a Coach makes you understand that he’d like you as a director or someone to help him in the changing room then it is time to go.

“Time to shake hands without feeling any resentment and without holding a grudge. I’m a very proud person.

“If Nesta and I made this choice, then it’s because we felt that Allegri no longer wanted us.”

Fans are unhappy with the club’s strategy, but the 2006 World Cup winner has admitted that these are tough economical times.

“You can’t criticise President Silvio Berlusconi after what he has done for the last 26 years, but there is a need to be clear and tell people how things are.

“Sacrifices are being made for two-three years and then there will be a return to spending. If people are losing their jobs then there isn’t the need to spend money on a football club.

“Milan can’t play in the Champions League to just participate. To see such a re-shaping after so many years is a real shock.”

Nevertheless, the former Rangers player believes that the Rossoneri could learn from what champions Juventus did last term.

“Milan’s aim for next season could be to fight and imitate Juve last year. It was a team built around two champions in Gigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo – and then you had the others who fought so hard that they vomited. You can see that boss Antonio Conte is behind them.

“Conte loves football and he was like a cat stuck to your balls as a player. When we faced Juve, everybody was talking about Edgar Davids, but it was Conte who kept on running and who never gave up.”

Gattuso is now plying his trade in Switzerland with FC Sion after he rejected numerous offers from other Italian clubs.

“The Milan shirt was stitched to me,” he added. “I miss Milan. I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t admit it, but I’m happy with the choice that I made because here at Sion you really need to fight and work hard.

“I have started again here. I carry my own bag, I clean my own boots and I change my own studs. I have to think about the small things, like a bricklayer who goes to work.

“If I forget something then I can only get mad with myself and if you tape up your ankle then you are looked at funny – because tape costs money.”